The Wii U update is finally here, and with it, the Virtual Console has launched today in North America. While the choices are far from impressive, mostly consisting of promotional $0.30 gamesthat were already offered, I'm just glad the Virtual Console is finally here, and hopefully Nintendo won't stagger releases as much as they have in the past.Today, you can pick up Super Mario World ($7.99 - yeesh), Ice Climber ($4.99), Kirby's Adventure($0.30 temporarily, $4.99 regularly), Donkey Kong Jr. ($4.99), Balloon Fight ($4.99), Excitebike($4.99), Punch Out!! ($4.99), and F-Zero ($7.99). If you already own an NES game, you can pay $1 to upgrade to the Wii U version, or pay $1.50 for SNES games. You'll net customizable controls, remote play, restore points (save states), and Miiverse support for your upgrade.As a recap, that's only the NES and SNES available right now. I've already had my fill with the anniversary games, so I don't think I'll quadruple dip on Super Mario World just yet.

and why is the price absurd. it's what people are willing to pay for it, and there's hours and hours of entertainment in it. even if you only play it 4-8 hours that's 1-2 dollars per hour. Better than most entertainment.

8 dollars for a 20+ year old game. Sounds reasonable. I love the apologist mentality some folk have for Ninty.

You have to also think of the manhours that people put into making the emulator for this. Not a lot of people realize the amount of effort it takes to code an emulator.

Doubtful. Nintendo already have all of the resources/code etc. to do this. It's confusing as why it took them this long. Nintendo making a stable emulator for the Wii U isn't like hobbyist coders who made Znes or Snes9x.